Thursday, August 23, 2012Brown-Mandel race tightens as conservative PAC launches new attack adsRove's Crossroads GPS is one of the big spenders in the record-setting U.S. Senate raceby WKSU's M.L. SCHULTZEThis story is part of a special series.

A new poll shows a tightening of the race between U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and challenger Josh Mandel, just as the conservative super PAC Crossroads GPS is launching another $1.3 million ad campaign attacking Brown. WKSU’s M.L. Schultze reports that Brown acknowledges the ads are having an effect.

Ohio’s Senate race has long been on the top five list for Republicans, and so far, backers of Josh Mandel have spent an estimated $15 million on the race.

“Coming to you this year…. Sherrod Brown gets two thumbs up.”

The latest is attack ad by Crossroads GPS, the Karl Rove affiliated super PAC is targeting four Senate races nationally with its latest ad buys.

The ads are coming out the same day a new Quinnipiac Poll shows Brown ahead of Mandel with Ohio voters, 48-41 percent, a narrower margin than a month ago, when Brown led 51-39 percent.

Brown acknowledges the attack ads have had an impact, but says Ohio voters will see through them.

“Particularly when these ads, so many of them, have been designated by the nonpartisan, nonpolitical middle of the road group Politifact have been designated (as) pants on fire. … It’s one ad after the other, one statement after the other that is not just false, but willfully false.”

Mandel did not return a call for comment, but some of his supporters have dismissed Politifact as liberally biased. And Mandel’s latest campaign solicitation accuses labor and other PACS of “relentlessly lying about my record.”